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Working at a Dealership... Perks?

DRTDEVL

DRTDEVL

Mothfukle
Joined
May 19, 2020
Member Number
78
Messages
768
Loc
Austin... TX? Nope. Minnesota!
The old lady has found herself recently out of work, and the local Ford-Dodge-Chrysler-Jeep joint just put out an ad for salespeople. Non-commission, salary, $40k starting (allegedly).

Who's done it? What perks come with the job?

My sister is the regional manager for a small used-car chain in the southeast; her company allows all employees and their families to purchase vehicles from them at their cost (auction + fees + freight + reconditioning + TT&L). I was curious, based on the new pickup thread, if franchised dealerships commonly have purchase incentives for their employees beyond the "friends and family pricing" shams. If so, I'll encourage her to work there and use that opportunity in the next couple years to get a F250 CC LB 7.3 4X4 for an actual deal.
 
No commission? Kiss my ass, nothing but a puppet on a string.

Perks of the job? Every single(or not) woman getting dicked down on the regular. Guess it depends if you or your woman are into that sort of thing.

There's no "deal" to be had. A "good" salesman making commission should pull $8k+ a month.
 
I’m a BDC manager for a dealer group in SC. You definitely get some characters on the job but overall I enjoy it. I’ve been in the business since 2007. I’ve left and gone to vendors but always found my way back to the dealership. In a skilled position a dealership will pay way more money than an outside place/vendor for the sale job. My skillset allowed me to make my own schedule, have a salary, and a lot more flexibility than most. What background does she have currently?
 
I am a Parts Manager, and it has it's perks, but there is a lot of petty, egotistical bullshit to deal with. About what I would imagine a office full of cubicles would be like. I do get paid decent, and I get a discount on parts and if I buy a vehicle from the company. I have worked for several companies and most were pretty much the same except the "family owned" which were sort of weird with more egos than normal. Salesmen are a pain in the ass all the way around. You can develop a following and make good money selling, but unless you have a lot of friends and family connections, it's a tough road to excel at, in my opinion.
 
What the fuck is "not your typical dealership" supposed to mean? They sell & service cars just like every other dealer in the country, don't they? Sounds like your making excuses to justify the shitty job for your wife so you can get a good deal on a truck....... :laughing:

BIG red flag...... Salary sales. They are going to want your wife to work 50+ hrs a week including nights and weekends for that $40k. Hell no!
 
jimbo92 said:
I’m a BDC manager for a dealer group in SC. You definitely get some characters on the job but overall I enjoy it. I’ve been in the business since 2007. I’ve left and gone to vendors but always found my way back to the dealership. In a skilled position a dealership will pay way more money than an outside place/vendor for the sale job. My skillset allowed me to make my own schedule, have a salary, and a lot more flexibility than most. What background does she have currently?
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13 years military, started in HR, went Medical, then became a Medical Logistics Manager. Standard stuff prior to the military, waitressing, Blockbuster :laughing:, office management. After the military, she was the office manager for a Vet clinic/hospital. Plenty of customer service, not so much in sales, though.

Elwenil said:
I am a Parts Manager, and it has it's perks, but there is a lot of petty, egotistical bullshit to deal with. About what I would imagine a office full of cubicles would be like. I do get paid decent, and I get a discount on parts and if I buy a vehicle from the company. I have worked for several companies and most were pretty much the same except the "family owned" which were sort of weird with more egos than normal. Salesmen are a pain in the ass all the way around. You can develop a following and make good money selling, but unless you have a lot of friends and family connections, it's a tough road to excel at, in my opinion.
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I sold the hardest thing to sell... something that wasn't intrinsic. Tough road, indeed, but I figure with a bit of coaching up in the Zig Ziglar methods, her tenacity and personality will suit her just fine.

SLOWPOKE693 said:
What the fuck is "not your typical dealership" supposed to mean? They sell & service cars just like every other dealer in the country, don't they? Sounds like your making excuses to justify the shitty job for your wife so you can get a good deal on a truck....... :laughing:

BIG red flag...... Salary sales. They are going to want your wife to work 50+ hrs a week including nights and weekends for that $40k. Hell no!
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They are open 8:30-6, M-F, and 8:30-3 on Saturday. Closed Sunday.

Not typical, as it is the epitome of small-town America. Not a high-volume place; they rarely have more than 30 units on the lot at a time... and that's after the merger (acquisition) of the CDJ dealer down the street. I think its literally the kind of place that only has a couple of sales folks, and openings aren't that often. The shop is only two bay doors. Its tiny, and so is the sales volume.
 
DRTDEVL said:
Not typical, as it is the epitome of small-town America. Not a high-volume place; they rarely have more than 30 units on the lot at a time... and that's after the merger (acquisition) of the CDJ dealer down the street. I think its literally the kind of place that only has a couple of sales folks, and openings aren't that often. The shop is only two bay doors. Its tiny, and so is the sales volume.
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I think she will like it. Small town stores are pretty chill. We have a Ford store my brother uses in the next county that is super small. He drives 30 minutes out of the way because they are so easy to deal with. I believe they do salary too. They close the whole store for lunch. Literally put a sign on the door, lock it, and leave for an hour. In that kind of environment it takes away the stress of fighting for a deal or a split deal. You just keep your paperwork clean, keep customers happy, keep CSI up and enjoy yourself. It can be a lot of fun. I’m not customer facing, but if I look out the window and see a customer not being tended to I won’t hesitate to go out and speak and take them for a test drive. I like cars and I like talking to new folks so the two go well together. Dealers can absolutely be shitty, (I dealt with plenty on the vendor side) but I’ve been fortunate to work at some very good family owned stores.

As far as perks, I’ve definitely stumbled into some great deals on personal vehicles. They typically don’t want you buying cars for cost and flipping them but I’ve never been hassled over 1 or 2 a year. I typically buy stuff they are going to send to auction anyway and enjoy fixing them up. A huge perk is access to all the vendors that come by and do work. Upholstery folks, paint less dent, minor body work, tint guys, etc. I leave my keys with them and pay in cash and they do work very cheap. My avalanche is currently having the rear quarter repaired (pretty decent sized dent/paint), the rear plastic repainted, and headlights done for $400.

ive also found that the deals are reciprocal with other dealers.. Need a part for another oem? I call and say hey this is Jim from ABC dealer, I need such and such...and they give me the employee price for their store and usually deliver it to mine.
 
DRTDEVL said:
The old lady has found herself recently out of work, and the local Ford-Dodge-Chrysler-Jeep joint just put out an ad for salespeople. Non-commission, salary, $40k starting (allegedly).

Who's done it? What perks come with the job?

My sister is the regional manager for a small used-car chain in the southeast; her company allows all employees and their families to purchase vehicles from them at their cost (auction + fees + freight + reconditioning + TT&L). I was curious, based on the new pickup thread, if franchised dealerships commonly have purchase incentives for their employees beyond the "friends and family pricing" shams. If so, I'll encourage her to work there and use that opportunity in the next couple years to get a F250 CC LB 7.3 4X4 for an actual deal.
Click to expand...

Don't.

Spent 30 years working for dealerships, primarily in management, but always on the Sales side of things. The success rate for novice salepeople is less than 5%. That means 9 out of 10 new hires don't last a year, and half of the ones that succeed for a year will quit between 3 and 5 years. Only 1 in 20 make it for more than 5.

Regarding the 'salary' portion of the pay, it's a sell-or-get-fired job. There is immense pressure between franchises. dealerships, and manufacturers for the cars to get sold.

Regarding the 'buy at cost', yes, you will find dealerships, and dealership groups with employee pricing. However that's primarily for 'replaceable' cars and trucks, such as new vehicles that aren't a 'one-off', like a new Vette, or GT40, or whatever. With used cars, that 7.3 4x4 is either going to be a POS, or, 'well worn' but never a cream puff. If it's a cream puff, then that dealer is assured of a big profit (say 4K) and selling it at cost to your family is the exact same as taking a 4k bonus and giving it to her. And that Salesmanager who's been there for a decade or two isn't going to give a 4k bonus to anyone who's not well-tenured or a huge benefit to the store.

One last point to throw out there; dealerships will have a salesperson ad out there 365 days a year. Often also have a mechanic/tech ad out there the same 365 (depending on the store)
 
I had a neighbor who got laid off as a construction manager and went to work selling at a dealership. He said it was a blast and he made decent dough. He said he was above all the politics and ego crap as he is older and has had really good, big jobs and just wants to make money and do his job. He said if you stay out of the bs, you do great.
 
TreeClimber said:
Don't.

Spent 30 years working for dealerships, primarily in management, but always on the Sales side of things. The success rate for novice salepeople is less than 5%. That means 9 out of 10 new hires don't last a year, and half of the ones that succeed for a year will quit between 3 and 5 years. Only 1 in 20 make it for more than 5.

Regarding the 'salary' portion of the pay, it's a sell-or-get-fired job. There is immense pressure between franchises. dealerships, and manufacturers for the cars to get sold.

Regarding the 'buy at cost', yes, you will find dealerships, and dealership groups with employee pricing. However that's primarily for 'replaceable' cars and trucks, such as new vehicles that aren't a 'one-off', like a new Vette, or GT40, or whatever. With used cars, that 7.3 4x4 is either going to be a POS, or, 'well worn' but never a cream puff. If it's a cream puff, then that dealer is assured of a big profit (say 4K) and selling it at cost to your family is the exact same as taking a 4k bonus and giving it to her. And that Salesmanager who's been there for a decade or two isn't going to give a 4k bonus to anyone who's not well-tenured or a huge benefit to the store.

One last point to throw out there; dealerships will have a salesperson ad out there 365 days a year. Often also have a mechanic/tech ad out there the same 365 (depending on the store)
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We understand the sell or get fired aspect. Comes with the territory.

I was thinking new 7.3 if she got a good deal.

And finally, I've never before seen a want ad from this place in nearly 2 years of living here.
 
The "Deal" at a Ford dealer is a preset plan through Ford called "D-Plan", and it's a pretty good deal. I worked in the service side of a big city Ford store for a couple years and grew to hate it really quickly but that had more to do with the company, we could've been selling and servicing anything and it would've sucked. Sales department there didn't like doing any "plan" sales because they lived on bullshit "market adjustment" markup.

Here's the employee pricing plan breakdown for Ford

https://www.carsdirect.com/deals-articles/decoding-ford-a-plan-z-plan-x-plan-d-plan-pricing
 
DMG said:
Working at a dealership sucks.
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100% this.

The perks don't exist anymore. At least prior to cash for clunkers it could be a gold mine for flipping used cars they were going to send to auction. But now there's so much money in used cars, even the shit that gets sent to auction that most dealers won't even let employees buy them.

I used to get anything I wanted that wasn't going on the lot for the $500 processing fee we charged plus whatever we gave a customer on trade in. I left when we got bought out in 2015. New owner wouldn't let us buy anything off the lot for under sticker, or KBB if it was going to auction. Auction cars were our number one priority after that because the guy that bought us out was making anywhere from $1.5-2 a month off volume going to auctions.

You couldn't pay me enough to go back to one and there's no way in hell I'd let my SO work at one. It's like high school on crack. Everything revolves around CSI scores and it's all shit pay for long hours anymore.
 
As already mentioned, the good deals are on the backlot cars that were traded in and headed to auction. I was a lot boy 20 years ago and was in close with the best sales guys. It was very cut throat and unpleasant at times for the sales staff. I had it easy but was always interested in the "game".

I bought 2 from the backlot in the year I worked there. Trade in price plus $200 for paperwork. I bought a 92 isuzu rodeo 4x2, 4cyl, 5 spd with a bench seat up front. Literally the cheapest Rodeo available. 😂😂😂

Non commission sales sucks when you are the hustler and making the company money while others dont do shit. I had that experince at best buy when going through college. I was good at selling that shit and liked talking with people. We did a competition. In home theater one busy Saturday. I rang up 26k in sales, 8k in service plans that were HIGH margin. The next best girl had massive jugs that really helped her sales.😂😂. She rang up 14k. We got paid the same. This wore me out after a few years and I moved to the delivery truck.
 
Motorcharge said:
100% this.

The perks don't exist anymore. At least prior to cash for clunkers it could be a gold mine for flipping used cars they were going to send to auction. But now there's so much money in used cars, even the shit that gets sent to auction that most dealers won't even let employees buy them.

I used to get anything I wanted that wasn't going on the lot for the $500 processing fee we charged plus whatever we gave a customer on trade in. I left when we got bought out in 2015. New owner wouldn't let us buy anything off the lot for under sticker, or KBB if it was going to auction. Auction cars were our number one priority after that because the guy that bought us out was making anywhere from $1.5-2 a month off volume going to auctions.

You couldn't pay me enough to go back to one and there's no way in hell I'd let my SO work at one. It's like high school on crack. Everything revolves around CSI scores and it's all shit pay for long hours anymore.
Click to expand...

We had to pay a wholesaler to buy the car for us at the dealer I worked for if we wanted auction fodder, they would not under any circumstances let us buy them otherwise. Couldn't even buy blown up beaters from service customers most of the time.
 
TrikeKid said:
We had to pay a wholesaler to buy the car for us at the dealer I worked for if we wanted auction fodder, they would not under any circumstances let us buy them otherwise. Couldn't even buy blown up beaters from service customers most of the time.
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Yeah, we got worse deals as employees than the public did even if we were paying cash.

Last straw for me was getting shit on by one of our other lots sales managers. Was trying to hook my uncle up on a used H2 for his wife. She was deadset on one, he's a happy wife, happy life kind of guy. Brought cash and they wanted like $3k over sticker if he wasn't financing. Told the manager I worked at the dealer across the street, owned by the same game. He called the owner up for approval on sticker and handed me the phone and I got my ass chewed out over fucking sticker price.

I put my two weeks in with my service manager the next morning. He quit himself like a month later after being there since the 70s. When I left like 80% of the staff that had been there for 25+ years had all quit within 6 months of us being bought out.
 
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